GEO Stands with #BlackLivesMatter and against Police Violence and anti-Blackness
The Graduate Employees’ Organization at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (GEO IFT/AFT Local 6300) stands in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement and all organizations fighting for justice against the plague of police brutality and white supremacy. The cruel murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis has sparked large protests around the country and the world, building upon the Black community’s centuries-long struggle against the white supremacist systems in the United States. While these protests erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s death, his is not the only one we have mourned this year: Ahmaud Arbery, gunned down by a father and son duo; Breonna Taylor, who was shot to death in her own home by the police; Tony McDade, a black trans man murdered by police in Tallahassee, FL; and countless others. We condemn these racist actions and corrupt systems and we will stand with the Black community in their fight for justice. We have a responsibility to dismantle the oppressive systems that infect this nation.
We stand in solidarity with grassroots Minneapolis organizations helping to fight these systems like the Black Visions Collective, Reclaim the Block, North Star Health Collective, and many others. We support the Champaign County Bailout Coalition, First Followers, Build Programs Not Jails, and other bail funds and programs that support those who are demanding justice throughout the country and here in our own community, where 27 protesters were arrested on the night of Sunday, May 31, and are facing exorbitant bond costs.
We also support community efforts to seek justice for Aleyah Lewis, a young Black woman who was brutally arrested by Urbana police officers on April 10. Lewis was filmed asking the police why they were arresting her friend, and then tried to walk home. She was then told by an officer that “if she walked away she would go to jail.” Lewis then stopped as the officer aggressively approached her and threw her on the ground. Three other heavily armed officers approached and held her down, throwing punches and kneeing her. Aleyah was charged with four felony counts for resisting arrest and aggravated battery to police officers, and now faces up to 12 years in prison. Here is a link to the CU Underground’s story on the incident as well as the Public I article with updates on her case. Many of our members have attended City Council meetings to show up for Aleyah and other people betrayed by those supposedly sworn to serve and protect us. We will continue to stand in solidarity with the families and communities impacted by this violence.
We continue to call on our own members and graduate workers everywhere to fight tirelessly to dismantle white supremacy within our organizations, and to hold ourselves accountable for the legacy of anti-Black exclusion in organized labor and academic institutions. We also demand that university leaders take accountability for UIUC’s complicity in police violence by breaking all ties with police departments and private security companies in Champaign-Urbana and putting profits over lives in their response to COVID-19, which has disproportionately affected the health of Black workers and exacerbated long standing economic inequalities. UIUC and the University of Illinois System have sent out several massmails condemning police brutality and the public execution of George Floyd. However, UIUC also touts that it is home to one of the largest police training institutes in the country, which “has trained tens of thousands of police, and correctional officers since 1955.” This means the U of I is culpable in reproducing the racist culture of policing in this country. University of Illinois Campus police also colluded with private security firm Tigerswan to infiltrate and gain intel on the Indigenous-led #NoDAPL protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016. If the University of Illinois was actually committed to dismantling systems that “utilize power, privilege and violence to disenfranchise, diminish and destroy” as they claim, it would do all it could to divest from and defund the police forces that terrorize marginalized peoples every day and reinforce white supremacy on our campus and in our communities. Instead of offering empty words and making hollow promises for the future, they should listen now to the voices of workers and stand with autonomous Black and brown direct actions happening right now.
For centuries, the United States, along with its systems of higher education, have profited from racism, and the exploitation of Black and brown, and Native communities. We are facing an unprecedented moment, in which Black people are resisting police and state brutality in the midst of the most challenging pandemic in modern history. The United States owes reparations to Black people and we shall continue to fight until dignity is restored and the police state is abolished. When we organize our communities, we build the political power necessary to win and transform our reality. We support Black people’s right to “self sufficiency, self defense and self determination!”
Stand Against Police Violence in Champaign-Urbana: What can you do?
Tell Urbana City Council to End Police Violence Community activists have put sustained pressure on the mayor, city council and UPD in the aftermath of Aleyah Lewis’s arrest. We must keep this up! Pack the virtual city council room every Monday at 7pm and submit public comment to the city council (city council meetings may return to in-person format in the coming months but currently they are all held via Zoom). You can do so in one of two ways:
Email city council and your comment will be read aloud and entered into the public record.
If you attend the meeting you can use the zoom “raise hand” function and you will be called on to speak during public input. Even if the meeting is at maximum capacity, you can follow the livestream and engage your own community in conversation.
Donate to Aleyah Lewis's Legal Defense Fund organized by the Channing-Murray Foundation. If you can't donate yourself, please share with colleagues, friends and family!
We also encourage you to make an original statement in defense of Ms. Lewis. You can also review previous city council meeting minutes here. However, in your statement please incorporate these demands:
Call for all charges against Aleyah Lewis to be dropped immediately.
Call for a truly meaningful and independent investigation of the arrest.
Call for officers who beat Ms. Lewis to be put on unpaid leave pending the investigation.
Demand a restructuring of the Citizen Police Review Board and the institution of a less restrictive complaint submission process so that the board can better hold police accountable.
Donate or Join the Champaign County Bailout Coalition The CCBC is raising funds to bail out the 27 protesters who were arrested. At the time of this writing, they have bailed out 16, and need our help to free them all! Donate what you can--every dollar helps. The CCBC also needs volunteers to help coordinate the logistics of the bailouts. Contact them at Champaign.County.Bail.Out@Gmail.com or (765) 231-5682.
Support and Show Up For Black-led Grassroots Groups in Champaign-Urbana
HV Neighborhood Transformation
Black Lives Matter Champaign-Urbana
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement Champaign-Urbana
The Graduate Employees’ Organization, AFT/IFT Local 6300, AFL-CIO, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, represents approximately 2,700 Teaching and Graduate Assistants on the UIUC Campus. In November 2009 and in February 2018, over 1,000 GEO members and allies participated in a strike to secure a fair contract and more accessible UIUC campus. With an active presence in the community, the GEO continues to work for high-quality and accessible public education in Illinois.
For more information, please contact geo@uigeo.org. More information can also be found on GEO’s website at www.uiucgeo.org.
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